Pages

Saturday, March 10, 2012

MORGAN STANLEY BANKER PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO STABBING TAXICAB DRIVER

Jennings, 45, is accused of attacking the driver, Mohamed Ammar, on Dec. 22 with a 2 1/2-inch blade and using racial slurs after a 40-mile ride from New York to the banker’s Darien,Connecticut, home. The hate-crime count brings the same five- year maximum prison sentence as the assault charge.

Jennings, who had attended a bank holiday party at a boutique hotel in Manhattan before hailing the cab, refused to pay the $204 fare upon arriving in his driveway, the driver said. Jennings said “he did not feel like paying” because he was already home, Ammar, 44, told police. The banker offered to pay $50, he said. Jennings told police Ammar demanded $294 and he offered to pay $160.Call to 911

Ammar, a native of Egypt, said that after the banker refused to pay, he backed out of the driveway of the $3.4 million home to seek a police officer. Ammar said he had tried to call 911 but was hampered by poor mobile reception in the wealthy Fairfield County suburb.

The banker called him an expletive and said, “I’m going to kill you. You should go back to your country,” according to the police report. A fight ensued as they drove through Darien, and Jennings allegedly cut Ammar, police said.

Jennings said the driver cut his hand trying to grab the knife from him, which he said he wielded because he feared he was being abducted, possibly back to the city. Ammar denied he tried to take Jennings back to New York.